JCESR researchers Kristin Persson and Fik Brushett testified May 4 before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, Subcommittee on Energy, to share how the climate and energy science research sponsored by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science strengthens U.S. innovation and workforce development. As subcommittee chairman Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) noted, “this research is not just a nice-to-have, it is a must-have for the safety, security, and future of humanity.”
Dr. Persson, a leader in the field of high-throughput genomic design of materials for energy storage applications, reflected on her leadership roles in three programs funded by the Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program within the Office of Science: JCESR, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub; The Materials Project; and the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, focused on cutting edge nanoscale science.
“BES user facilities, unique assets, and expertise are leveraged by hundreds of thousands of researchers from across the country and the world,” Persson said. “They empower the nation’s inquiry into, and accelerate technology development in, energy storage, quantum information science, transformative new materials and chemicals, artificial photosynthesis, carbon capture at scale, and more.”
Dr. Brushett, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), supervises a research group focused on advancing the science and engineering of electrochemical technologies needed for a sustainable energy economy. His remarks focused on his career development and the important role that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and research opportunities—enabled by BES support of universities and national laboratories—played in his growth as a scientist, mentor, and leader.
“While I have undoubtedly benefitted from the MIT community in terms of student education, faculty mentoring, research funding, and fruitful collaborations, among many other things, my engagement with JCESR has accelerated my career development,” Brushett said.
You can watch the video of the full hearing here. Persson’s testimony begins at the 31:35-minute mark, followed by Brushett’s.
Links to their full remarks are below:
The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), a DOE Energy Innovation Hub, is a major partnership that integrates researchers from many disciplines to overcome critical scientific and technical barriers and create new breakthrough energy storage technology. Led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, partners include national leaders in science and engineering from academia, the private sector, and national laboratories. Their combined expertise spans the full range of the technology-development pipeline from basic research to prototype development to product engineering to market delivery.
